The Refuge Steakhouse & Bourbon Bar — Restaurant in The Woodlands

So excited for this restaurant I have been wanting to try for the two years. We've been living in the Woodlands area and after seeing it on the TV show. Good taste...... we really really wanted to like this restaurant.

Unfortunately, this might've been one of the most underwhelming experience experiences since living here in Texas. Arriving 15 minutes early before our 7:15 PM reservation. The restaurant was busting at the seams. I saw at least a 20 top and a 10 top party going on. An hour later we are finally set. They did offer my daughter a drink while we were waiting. A seating option was offered at the bar, which I didn't think was appropriate for my daughter only being 13 years old.. I do wonder if we would've received our table any quicker if the young lady working the host stand would've spent less time checking her phone every five seconds and spent more time focused on her job at hand.

Upon arriving to our table. The ambience is absolutely beautiful in this restaurant!

Kevin our server was amazing!

We ordered two appetizers and two entrées. My daughter ordered the tuna poke appetizer. I ordered the lobster stack appetizer. Bland at best. Lemon zest, any type of citrus or finishing salt would've absolutely put these dishes over the top. The dice on the tuna poke was fantastic. The texture of the lobster was very similar to the same texture of the frozen lobster knuckle product You can get from Sysco foods.

Now the entrées arrive, and this was the lowest point of the entire experience. My steaks were literally cold to the touch. My daughter's salmon was room temperature at best and the risotto that was her side dish was identical to the risotto offered on my "steak flight" entree. A restaurant at this price point should be embarrassed to offer the same side for two different entrées. Being a chef for over 30 years from Michelin star restaurants, amazing restaurants, and country clubs in Las Vegas. It is quite obvious for me to see when a starch side is being held in a third pan and in a Bay Marie and just being put on a plate. We ordered two sides. Their brussels sprouts, as soon as they arrive to our table. Our server would not even let us keep them. He sent them back because even he was not happy with how they looked. They were supposed to be roasted. Was not even close. We also had lobster mac & cheese, again, absolutely no seasoning.

When our server came to check on us, I explained my concerns and my dissatisfaction. He immediately took my steak back. Within five minutes I received three hot pieces of steak on a hot plate. But again absolutely zero seasoning. I have included a picture of the steak entrée that I received. For $78, regardless of the entrée this plating is unacceptable! This literally looks like this could've come from a local diner or cafeteria.

Seeing the dissatisfaction on my daughter's face for evening that we were both extremely looking forward to. I had to let our server. Kevin know our unsatisfactory experience. Again, he was a very good listener and understanding. I did see the owner busting his ass, moving tables serving food as well as the management staff. Would've been nice if one of them came over to touch the table.

In conclusion, this restaurant seem very popular. They would have been better off, capping their Reso for the night instead of trying to jampacked the restaurant. It was very obvious to me that these cooks back there were completely overwhelmed and they were just throwing the food out to get it out. I hold no fault to the kitchen staff whatsoever because they were really grinding their ass off back there. I hold responsible whomever was working the pass as this food was coming out because obviously everything that was going out was acceptable to them.

Kevin, our savior told me that we should come back on a Sunday or a Wednesday when they are slower. We could truly get a proper experience. But at the price point that we spent for dinner here I do not foresee that happening anytime within...

This was the worst dining experience we have had in a very long time. We made reservations to celebrate both our anniversary, and our friend’s anniversary. We had heard great things from friends who frequent Refuge regularly, and were excited for a night out without our children. When we got to Refuge, we were greeted very nicely and they even acknowledged that we were celebrating two anniversaries. It quickly went downhill from there. We were sat at the worst table (next to the restrooms/kitchen), but I get it, someone has to sit there. There were other tables available, but I didn’t want to make a scene since we were with friends. On top of that, it was at least 10 minutes before anyone greeted us at the table. The person that finally came to our table came up and just asked what we wanted to drink. No hello, no introduction of who he was, nothing. When dining at an upscale restaurant, specifically known for their drinks, you would think there would have been some sort of discussion about their cocktails. Drinks were ordered, two came out before the other two, and then we were officially greeted by our waiter. He apologized for the delay, and said he was extremely busy. Ok, so we decided to start off again on a fresh note. We eventually ordered three appetizers, they were all wonderful. Appetizer plates were cleared and we were excited to order our entrees based on what we had up until this point. We ordered a couple more cocktails, and then ordered our entrees. Fresh bread and rosemary butter was brought out, however our bread plates were already taken off the table, clearly we were forgotten about. Drinks came, dinner came. One of the dinner orders was wrong, my friend ordered the Filet Refuge and was served the filet. Two of the three sides we ordered also didn’t arrive. It took a while for anyone to come check on us so that we could let them know of these mistakes. We also all had empty glasses, and had to basically flag down our waiter to order more drinks. They offered to bring another filet, but my friend had already started eating and politely declined a new one. They then brought a cold container of the butter that comes on top of the filet, but it wasn’t very appetizing to put on a steak that wasn’t hot off the grill. Someone then showed up with a new steak, and we told them we hadn’t ordered it. They took it back to the kitchen and we could see two women highly annoyed with us, even though we never asked for a new steak. The waiter then brought out the two sides, in to go bags. We tried the truffle fries, because who doesn’t love truffle fries. They were room temperature and soggy. The waiter came back, asked if we wanted desert, and at this point we just wanted out. I was disappointed because I was really looking forward to ordering their pecan pie martini that was on their seasonal menu, but after the experience we had so far, it wasn’t worth it. Nobody once offered to comp any of the food that we did (and didn’t) receive. They didn’t offer any type of anniversary desert to make up for their shortcomings. The level of service for what we paid for our dinner was sub-par. Luckily for us, we had great company and enjoyed our evening, despite our...

For special events, my fiancée and I usually try new steak restaurants and on a whim, I chose The Refuge for his birthday. The ratings and reviews were consistent. I only have one minor negative which I will explain later for our reservation.

This restaurant is on point with service. The menu offers a lot and we like that they don't serve sides separately. Each main meal comes with it's paired sides. You can make modifications which is good too. We both ordered the filet and he got the one with crab stuffed shrimp and these were delicious. Our steaks were cooked to perfection.

On each table, there is a candle that is poured into bourbon bottles that they have gotten from their empty liquor bottles which is very unique. They have decorated this place very uniquely. We loved the low-key vibe...it's not stuffy at all and we both felt very comfortable. They sell the candles at the front and we purchased one for a friend who collects Bourbon and can't wait to give it to her.

I would say that we will definitely be going back here. Monica, our server, was very friendly and attentive. We had a visit from the manager and other wait staff to make sure we were accommodated.

Now for the negative, if that is even one, we made a reservation and because of having attended a graduation party, we were running 15 min late and I tried calling twice but they had the phone going to voicemail. Since we were going to be there shortly, we didn't leave a message...but they did call us asking if we were going to make our reservation. We normally don't like to be late for reservations and knew the would be busy to receive our message of our...